Mystery Wrasse Died Suddenly after 9 weeks in QT

[Avyona]

In October, my display tank broke out in ick due to my introducing too many fish too soon and putting everyone in the tank right away without QT. One was a blue tang and she had ich and almost killed everyone in about a week. I was able to get the wrasse, purple firefish, and foxface out in time. I put them all into QT in October. Afer three weeks of copper treatment, the firefish died. First of December the foxface lo died. Copper was still being run on them because the parasite was still visible. And now today after 9 weeks the lone mystery wrasse died!

I had the foresight to know they were on their way out. Each time a fish would die I would observe some shy behavoir. Not eating, and hiding for a day or two days max before kicking the bucket. Each time one would die the others would be unaffected. I stopped copper the second week of Dec. after the foxface passed away. Wrasse did well until two days ago.

I did a water change of about 40% which is larger than usual. But it had been about two weeks since the last change. I waited longer because the bio load on the QT tank dropped. Salinity and temp matched. 1.024 and 80 degrees. Brown diatoms have been in the QT tank for several weeks. A brown film on the walls and in the sponge filter, and the floor on one end of the tank where I have a bulb. I just dont know. I want to know what killed the three fish so I can learn. If its me, I gotta find out what I'm doing wrong. If its the fish I want to learn to treat diseases properly.

I got into the hobby in sept as a gift from my husband. My LFS gave me BAD advice and as a newb I didnt know any better until I started reading on my own and learning as I go. I was told it was ok to put 8 fish into a brand new 1 week old tank with live rock and sand. I was told it was also ok to put 15 corals into that same tank. Since then I have learn my LFS "friends" are just greedy and cared not for the well being of fish.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Ich only comes from ich. Your fish cannot get ich, no matter what you do, unless ich is in their tank. You sound like now you have the right idea: one fish at a time and about 6 weeks in the QT. Then another fish in the QT, etc. Did you test ammonia and copper in the QT at least daily? What time of day was copper tested? What brand of copper, brand of copper test used? Size of main tank and Q?, What were you using to control ammonia in the QT?

 

[Avyona]

I was using seachem cupermine solution and monitored it three times a day every day for 7 weeks. I kept it perfect the entire time. Cant remember the brand of test but it was the one with the color card and the test tube with a flat bottom. ATI?

My QT tank is a 10 gallon and has a good shatterproof digital heater rated for the tank size, a glass suction cup ammonia monitor(which i know is not something to go by per say), a suction cup glass thermometer, pinpoint ph monitor, media free submersible filter for water circulation, and a sponge filter hooked up to a whisper 40 air pump. Some pieces of PVC pip and a light layer of freshwater river rock gravel for the wrasse since they like substrate. I chose a substrate that would not absorb the carbon. The wrasse always chose to sleep under thesponge filter.

For the first four weeks I did a 10-15% water change daily. Then weeks 5-7 I did a four day interval water change of 20-25%. The last two weeks I have done a weekly 20% change until the last one which was two days ago when I did a 40% change. The wrasse had already began to hide and sleep all day. Which prompted me for a larger water change to ensure that any spikes in Nitrates and ammonia would be fixed if any. Which I dont believe there was. But the QT tank has had brown algae in it for about 6 weeks. I started from scratch witha brand new QT tank. It was not already established. I used water from the DT to fill it and in went the fish with the hardware I had bought at a LFS.

 

[Avyona]

I was using seachem cupermine solution and monitored it three times a day every day for 7 weeks. I kept it perfect the entire time. Cant remember the brand of test but it was the one with the color card and the test tube with a flat bottom. ATI?

My QT tank is a 10 gallon and has a good shatterproof digital heater rated for the tank size, a glass suction cup ammonia monitor(which i know is not something to go by per say), a suction cup glass thermometer, pinpoint ph monitor, media free submersible filter for water circulation, and a sponge filter hooked up to a whisper 40 air pump. Some pieces of PVC pip and a light layer of freshwater river rock gravel for the wrasse since they like substrate. I chose a substrate that would not absorb the carbon. The wrasse always chose to sleep under thesponge filter.

For the first four weeks I did a 10-15% water change daily. Then weeks 5-7 I did a four day interval water change of 20-25%. The last two weeks I have done a weekly 20% change until the last one which was two days ago when I did a 40% change. The wrasse had already began to hide and sleep all day. Which prompted me for a larger water change to ensure that any spikes in Nitrates and ammonia would be fixed if any. Which I dont believe there was. But the QT tank has had brown algae in it for about 6 weeks. I started from scratch witha brand new QT tank. It was not already established. I used water from the DT to fill it and in went the fish with the hardware I had bought at a LFS.

 

[MrTuskfish]

I don't think API tests work with Cupramine. Were you immediately adding copper when doing WCs? Even a few minutes with Cu below the treatment level will screw up your treatment plan. New water and copper need to be mixed before new water is added to the QT. I don't know why the substrate you chose wouldn't absorb copper. If ich was still visible after 3 weeks; that would be very unusual and I'd guess that your Cu level had dropped during the treatment. That's just my best guess, but I think it makes sense. Treating ich isn't easy, especially for new hobbyists. You're right about LFS. Most are clueless; sad, they used to be great sources of info. SeaChem makes Cupramine , they have great tech-support and I've used Cupramine for years. If you use it again, I'd post here again, there are lots of little tricks to using it. Here's all-things Cupramine, the FAQ are great. http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Cupramine.html

 

[wooden_reefer]

In October, my display tank broke out in ick due to my introducing too many fish too soon and putting everyone in the tank right away without QT.

Your tank broke out with ich because you introduced ich into the tank, period.

The number of fish you can put into a tank and still avoid ammonia (not ich) is based on the amount of ammonia that the biological filter of the tank has recently handled.

Please do not lump all problems together.